Cleveland Museum Acquires 734 Historic China Photographs
The collection of photographs dating from the 1850s through the early 1920s comes from rare book and photography dealer Stephan Loewentheil.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Fine Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired 734 photographs of China dating from the 1850s through the early 1920s. The first exhibition drawn from the acquisition is planned for winter 2028.
Why it matters
The acquisition deepens the museum's representation of Chinese art from this period and expands its photography collection. It brings a significant body of early photographic documentation of China into a public institution.
The group includes more than 150 works by Lai Fong and an album of 60 photographs by Felice Beato, and only seven copies of Thomson's 80-print volume Foochow and the River Min are known to survive. The stub does not report a monetary value for the acquisition.
The players
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is a major encyclopedic art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, known for its broad collections spanning many world cultures and periods.
Stephan Loewentheil
Stephan Loewentheil is a rare book and photography dealer who assembled the collection of early photographs of China over more than four decades.
The details
The selection was made by curators Barbara Tannenbaum and Clarissa von Spee in collaboration with Loewentheil and was chosen for historical importance and exceptional artistic and material quality. The museum plans to digitize the works and make them available through Collections Online.
Timeline
Photographs in the acquisition date from the 1850s through the early 1920s.
Beato's album documents his travels with the British army in China from August to October 1860.
Thomson established a studio in Hong Kong in 1868.
The first exhibition from the acquisition is planned for winter 2028.
Seasonal Patterns
The acquisition extends the Cleveland Museum of Art's photography holdings into early photographic records of China spanning the 1850s to the early 1920s. It adds a documented body of work to a collection the museum has been building in this medium.
Once digitized, the photographs are planned to be available through the museum's Collections Online, letting visitors view them without visiting in person. The first exhibition drawn from the acquisition is planned for winter 2028 at the museum in Cleveland.
The takeaway
Early photographs of China are now held in a public collection that will make them available to the public, both digitally and through a planned winter 2028 exhibition. Readers interested in historical photography can follow the exhibition as it is scheduled.
What happens next
The first exhibition drawn from the acquisition is planned for winter 2028, and the museum plans to digitize the works for Collections Online.
Further reading
Explore more Fine Art coverage from Cleveland, where the museum is building its photography holdings.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Artdaily.
